


Shadows in the night

by pop14



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Swearing, Violence, mentions/implied rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:30:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7644625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pop14/pseuds/pop14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an original short story I've written. I wrote it while at a writing program in New York. The two main character's in the story live in New York City and the character the story centers around Liza who is a comic book artist. The story is a short part of liza's life after she is attacked on the streets of New York late at night by two men. I hope you all like the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows in the night

_I glanced behind me, the wind blowing my hair across my face. There was a figure behind me; I was still being followed. I picked up the pace again making an erratic turn down a street I didn’t need to go on. As I walked the wind blew more furiously, whipping my hair around my face. In my haste to get away from the figure following me, I didn’t notice the man coming towards me from the opposite end of the street until he was 3 feet from me. I was dialing my best friend as I brushed past him but he grabbed my arm and yanked me backwards, causing my phone to soar out of my hand and fly across the pavement bouncing and shattering, finally coming to a rest almost 5 feet away. I tried to wrench my arm away from his iron-fisted grip but it didn’t budge._

_“Let go of me!” I said, my voice quivering somewhat as I tried to keep the fear that was seeping through my body out of my voice. I moved my right hand to pry his fingers off my left arm but another hand closed over my right arm pulling it back to my side. My head whipped around to see the figure that had been following me earlier; whom I now realized was another man._

_“NO! HELP!” I screamed as I struggled against the hands holding me. Then they lifted me, up limbs flailing and slammed me into the brick wall behind us. My head bounced off the wall with a resonating force causing the world around me to go fuzzy and my brain to become sluggish. I heard a merciless laugh coming from my attacker as if from far away. My body went limp against the wall as my brain struggled to overcome the sluggish fog that my collision with the wall had caused. I felt the loss of sensation and realized that my body had been pulled off the wall but that feeling only lasted a few seconds as the wall came back in sharp contact, colliding with my body once again as the world went black around me._

_When my world regained color around me the first thing I noticed was a heavy weight pressed upon me, the second thing I noticed was a hot panting near my ear, the third thing I noticed was cold night air on my skin and the fourth and final thing I noticed was an excruciating pain in my lower body._

I shoot up in bed shaking and sweating, tears running down my face. The nightmare has been the same for months. Every time I go to sleep I relive that moment in my life. It has been eight months and I thought it might be better by now but it is still the only thing I see when I close my eyes. I barely sleep anymore, trying to keep myself occupied at all hours of the day so I don’t have to face the horrors that await me when I close my eyes. I look out the window of my twelfth story apartment and see the sun sinking below the horizon. I must have fallen asleep when I was working on my sketches in the living room. My best friend decided to bring me in here so I could get some proper rest. Ever since the incident she always worries about me. I know she cares and everything but sometimes she can be suffocating. My breathing and heartbeat have calmed down by now but there are still tears streaming down my face. I raise my hand and shakily wipe the tracks off my cheeks; I wish I would just stop crying already. With what I hope is a calm collected face I throw off my covers and cross the room throwing open the door. I cross the hallway into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me I into the mirror. I make a small noise of distaste as I look at my appearance; my face is red and blotchy in places from crying and wiping at it. I have mascara tracks running down my face and my eyes are red rimed and watery. My hair is a whole other story, it looks like a bird built a nest in my long auburn hair and settled in for a long stay. I exhale and grab my face wash. After scrubbing my face clean, I attempt to run a brush through my hair making it look slightly more presentable. I sigh giving myself one last look in the mirror before turning and opening the door only to come face to face with my best friend her arms crossed over her chest.

“What?” I sigh as I walk past her and down the hall heading toward the living room.

“You barely slept an hour.” She exclaims catching up with me and giving me a disapproving look.

“So?” I snap back moving my sketch notebook and sitting down on the couch curling my legs under me and placing the book in my lap.

“So” she says mimicking me “That’s hardly any sleep! You need to get more sleep Liza, a nap here and there doesn’t count.”

“I do get sleep Lils.” I insist indignantly. She scoffs at my feeble attempt to convince her my sleeping habits are normal and healthy, flicking her shoulder length brown hair out of her eyes.

“I’m not an idiot Liza! I can see the bags under your eyes. You’re clearly not sleeping okay. Are you still having the nightmares?”

“No” I lie “And if you can see Lily, than you should be able to see that _I’m fine!_ Now if you would excuse me I need to get back to my sketches, my boss is expecting a storyboard of these by Tuesday. And _leave_ _it_ Lily! ” I look down at my work beginning the same sketch I had been doing before I had accidently fallen asleep. I hear Lily huff loudly and move across the room to sit in her favorite armchair we have by the window.

“And that’s another thing” she bursts out, seemingly unable to contain herself any longer than a few minutes. “You never stop working! You’re always doing something for your job. You don’t go anywhere other than here and work. You never go to your yoga classes anymore. We never go out on the weekends anymore. You don’t even watch your _favorite_ _TV shows_ anymore. All you do is work and occasionally read. Why Elizabeth? Why don’t you do anything any more!” I jerk up at her line of questioning my eyes blazing. I throw my sketches and utensils to the side and storm up to her.

“I told you to _leave it_ Lillian! But no you can’t! So you want to know why I’m so fucked up! Okay here’s why! I was attacked and raped eight months ago! So excuse me for not adjusting and dealing with this well! You never did know when to leave things alone! Now _I_ have work to do. In my room _alone_ and I _don’t_ want to be interrupted!” With that I turned on my heel and stormed from the room and down the hallway grabbing my sketches and utensils as I walked by. Leaving a shell-shocked best friend staring in my wake the only movement in the room was when she flinched from my door slamming so loudly.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my story it means the world to me! It would make my day if you could please give me kudos or leave a review but you in on mean have to. Thank you again for taking the time to read it! That in its self makes me happy.


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